


[UNOFFICIAL] Persona New Generation: Infinite Time Loops

by Madoshi_Hikari



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, Persona Series
Genre: F/F, F/M, I REPEAT NOT ACTUALLY THE OFFICIAL LOOPS, I have no idea what I'm doing, I wrote all of these during class, Infinite Time Loops (unofficial), Leaps in Logic, M/M, Shit I have to write an explanation for like every mechanic here too, So I have like six chapters until things get tricky, a whole lotta gay, also OCs, but here we are anyway, i hope you enjoy this mess, mentioning seperate fanfictions, oh yeah multiple crossovers, what's persona 1&2 we don't have that here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2019-06-16 19:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15444294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madoshi_Hikari/pseuds/Madoshi_Hikari
Summary: In which the Wild Cards are trapped in a time loop and kinda pull everyone else along for the ride.Featuring: Angst if you squint, casual handling of death and other frankly problematic issues, multiversal shenanigans and a whole lotta confused everyone.





	1. The Mechanics (aka, How The Hecky These Work)

Alrighty then, let's actually try and formulate a working explanation.

First of all, Looping Lingo..

 

 _Anchor:_ The one Looper who will always be Awake.

 _Co-Anchors:_ Same as above, only that there can be any number of the assigned Co-Anchors of a Loop currently Awake.

 _Awake:_ To be Aware that time is looping, and to be able to access one's powers as a Looper.

 _Looper:_ Someone , or something in some cases, who is aware that time is repeating.

 _Dreamer &Dreaming: _Someone knows that Time is Looping, but does not gain access to other Loops or powers from said Loops.

 _Loop:_ Universe, or current cycle, depending on context.

 _Branch:_ Universe or localised Multiverse, an example for the latter being the Legend of Zelda Cluster.

 _Yggdrasil:_ Greater Multiverse. Also technically a Supercomputer. It was damaged- noone knows how, by whom, or why, but Basil, as he calls himself, has sent all "programs", or the Branches, on Loop until he can repair the damage done. 

 _Midgard/Hub:_ Earth as we, the readers and the author, know it.

 _Admin:_ The entity responsible for keeping a Loop's code stable. Funnily enough, this duty ofter falls to animals, one of the more prominent personalities being Toby Fox, the admin of the Undertale Branch.

 _Ping:_ Mental signal to signify one is Awake. Only perceivable by other Awake Loopers.

 _Subspace Pocket:_ Pocket Dimension. Grows with the number of Loops.

 

That should suffice.

Alright, now onto the actual specifics on how the Neo Persona Branch handles activation.

First of all, the admin is the obvious choice of Igor. He has created a seperate Velvet Room accessible to the Looping Wild Cards when Awake, with Dreaming copies of the Velvet Attendant to keep him company while he supervises the code. (He is infamous for coding parallel timelines. Wether or not the Loopers can access them varies.)

 

Next, the Anchor, or more specifically, the Co-Anchors. The first to Awaken was Minato, then Yu, Hamuko, and lastly Akira. Names here will vary wildly, as is often the case when data from the hub world isn't definitive enough to draw a singular conclusion. Quite obviously, the two Iwatodai Wild Cards developed a sibling bond.

Lastly, and perhaps the most confusing thing, is that unique to this Loop, Activation of New Loopers is handled quite differently than in most branches, though the Anchors don't realise this until the first activation actually happens. Here, whenever all Wild Cards max their Social Link/Confidante of a certain Arcana for several Loops consecutively, the number growing bigger each time, though it can vary, said Arcana will Loop. The only exception to this is the Jester Arcana, for a quite obvious reason as soon as we get there.

 

 

Either way, that should do it! Now to get to work typing up the actual first chapter. Hoo boy, here we go.


	2. Chapter 1: The First Loopers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> God the original chapter lengths are a mess. Time to manually edit. A LOT.
> 
> ...Sorry I'm late.

**1.1**

Whatever was going on with all the time repeats, it only seemed to affect Yu.

Said repeats, by now, lasted until the so called "P-1 Climax", an event that seemed to flow just a little bit different each time he lived through it. He really hoped this was the last of his escapades, it was honestly getting exhausting.

He didn't pay the church bells (?) that morning any mind, which proved to be a bad idea when the Investigation Team entered what was mostly definitely not Margaret's Fortune Teller Tent, if his attendant's own surprise was anything to go by. The silverette couldn't help but sigh-  _What now?_

* * *

 

Amnesiac Yasogami students, weird Shadow-filled Labyrinths and SEES, the later Shadow Operatives, whose Leader he'd actually been a few times. (He had been incredibly confused the first time it had happened. Also, the Dark Hour was gross.) Surprisingly enough, he had never met their blue-haired Leader until now, though. The passive seeming bluenette was apparently a Wild Card as well, but there was something... off about him Yu couldn't quite place.

The answer became apparent when he was more or less accidentally paired with Yuuki in the... Group Date Café Labyrinth.  _Why_.

"What is up with this Loop, honestly... I'm getting deja-vu around every corner..." Makoto had mumbled, and the younger Wild Card had turned to him, interest piqued. "What's a Loop?" The bluenette had cursed under his breath. After a few minutes of silent contemplation, the smaller teen had simply sighed. "Whatever, I might as well explain, even though you'll forget it... Listen up, yeah Narukami?" Yu nods and the other Fool begins his tale of trees, computers and a seperate Blue.

* * *

 

"So  _that's_ what's been going on the whole time!" Yu put his left fist onto his right palm, earning him a surprised look. "...You're Looping?" "Mh-hm, from what you told me I'm supposed to be your Co-Anchor. Why are you so surprised?" Yu cocks his head to the side. "Well, all the other times I've tried talking to you, you weren't Awake." "Oh. Huh. Anyway, thanks for explaining, Makoto...Senpai, I suppose. I'm glad to hear you're in a functioning relationship, too, even if it's kind of with yourself. But, well, he's the only one that remembers... sort of." "Yeah, Hamuko called it 'some kind of Dreaming, probably'. Too bad she's not here..." "By the way, I've Looped in as you a lot, but were you ever the Leader of my team?" "Yeah, you're a lively bunch. Interesting relationship with the placebo effect, too." The bluenette chuckled at that last part, and Yu felt his cheeks burn when he realised just what his senior was referring to. "Yeah... we sure do..."

"Would you please step forth now!" came an irritated sound mechanical voice from ahead. "Oh, right." They both deadpanned at the same time.

 

Which brought both of them to now. Somewhere along the line, Makoto had figured out he'd actually been through this before and concluded that they'll lose their memories of it somehow. In order to prevent that from occuring, however, both Wild Cards were frantically typing away at a text document on their phones, intending to preserve physical evidence.

 

**1.2**

Akira was, by now, somewhat used to the craziness that being a Looping Persona user entailed-he'd been in every "game" at least once, and a myriad of variants laid behind him.

This, in all honesty, was new.

"Where...?" The fourth Co-Anchor slowly regained consciousness.  Wherever he was, it was very dark, fairly cold and damp, and for some reason... purple.

_*Finally, you're Awake. Feeling Loopy?_

'And another voice in my head, lovely, as if Arsene wasn't enough whenever that's a thing. Great. Yeah, I'm one of the Co-Anchors in the Neo Persona Branch. Akira Kurusu, you?'

_*I'm Chara, welcome to Undertale. By the way, you can't leave until you finish one of three paths in the game. Try not kill anything._

The curly-haired ravenette stood up from his former lying position, and idly noticed he was nine again, by now a fairly familiar feeling, seeing how he usually Woke Up when he was around the same age. "... I think I'll keep the sweater." Chara snorted.

 

He killed Jerry, because god that guy was annoying.

Akira was never going to work at the Flower Shop again.

 

**1.3**

Yukari Takeba was  _beyond_ confused. First she, for all intents and purposes, wakes up  _thrown back in time eight years_ , and now there was a complete stranger in the lobby instead of Minato- Makoto- Sakuya? Okay, what.  _No, focus_. "Who are you?! Where's Minato?!" She settled on  the first name that had come to mind. The bespectacled young man with curly black hair turned to the pink-clad archer in surprise. "Wow, Hamuko-sempai and Minato-senpai must've spent a lot of time with you these last few Loops if you actually activated. You're probably confused, so sit down and I'll try to explain as best as I can." The taller teen gestured to the sofa, and Yukari complied hesitantly, a hand on her Evoker.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, elsewhere entirely, a recently debued idol and a future model are kind of freaking out. ...They'll have to wait a while until their explanations.

 

**1.4**

For making so many jabs and jokes about it, Yosuke was very gay. He tried to hide it, of course, and had succeeded for most of his life. Until Yu Narukami arrived, that is. Don't get him wrong, it wasn't like the silverette was taunting him with it. He was just stupidly good looking, and Yosuke thanked his lucky stars the silverette was oblivious to the true reason he kept calling him partner. 

 

Unbeknownst to Yosuke Hanamura, Yu was actually very gay for his best friend as well. The silverette was also a superb actor with incredibly long patience, and he would gladly wait until the Magician Arcana was Looping until he'd make his reciprocation known. (Not that the rest of the Team hadn't figured out both boys were smitten with each other. Chie had a bet with Kanji going on who would confess. Neither of them won.)

 

**1.5**

Jaune had virtually no idea what was going on this Loop, or why he wasn't allowed to use his shield, but as he watched his teammate Junpei wack yet another Shadow with his broadsword like he was using a baseball bat, he reached a decision. Once they had finished the last of the Shadows, he grabbed the goateed teens shoulder. "That's it, I'm teaching you how to properly wield a sword. That, or you're getting a baseball bat. Because that's how you're using the thing." "Oh come on man, seriously? Fine, fine, I'll take the bat..."

_Thank god, that was painful to watch. Not even I was this bad when I started._

 

**1.6**

"Hey, Senpai...? How come you're so small this Loop?" "I don't want to talk about it. Let's leave it at "My family sucks"." The silverette groaned as Rise patted 'his' back consolingly. "That happens a lot to you, huh...?" Yu(i) Narukami just let out another groan, her head hitting the table at the Junes Food Court as she un-paused time, taking a moment to appreciate the fact she'd manage to loop in as Dave Strider.

 

**1.7**

 

"Arcana Swaps  _suck_." M1N4T0 grumbled to himself, headphones whirring in irritation as he picked at his coat, feeling very out of place on the pier at Okinawa's beach. He was already tired of getting stared at.

Add to that the fact he had to 'unlock' his emotions one by one, the fact his boyfriend wouldn't know, and that he could be controlled remotely all came together in a package of "Being The Aeon Arcana Sucks".

His headphones whirred again. "Are... you alright?" came a hesitant familiar voice behind him.  _Oh, great, now I gotta keep up this act, too._

He turned around to find, to his own surprise, Ryoji looking back at him.  _Okay, how did I manage to confuse Aigis' voice for Ryoji's? Wait, no, focus._  "...prime directive located. Greetings, my name is Minato. My prime directive is to aid you on your Journey."  _Great, I get to watch my boyfriend float off to the moon, get back, and die in my lap._

 _This Loop is going to suck._

 

**1.8**

Tohru wasn't sure what he expected when Micheal called him into the elevator in September- he'd gotten over quite the interesting ordeal a few weeks ago. And with 'interesting', he meant totally screwed up.

He wasn't expecting his entire team of friends (still a strange thought) to pop up there with him, and evidently Micheal wasn't either. Before anyone could say anything beyond confused shouting, the elevator crashed.

* * *

 

Yu knew something was off when they arrived during the Q Event, as he and the others dubbed it by now. Especially when Rise mentioned something about "impossible readings" before urging the Investigation Team into the Labyrinth.

He was, in all honesty, not expecting an alternate Investigation Team (led by Adachi, of all people- though that was the least surprising part, really) that  _froze in horror_ upon spotting him. ... He had a bad feeling about this. Some members were different, too- he recognized Sayako-san from the hospital, Dojima-san (because of course he would be there if Adachi was) and, to his greatest surprise, Saki-sempai.

"Right, we'll talk later, let's take care of the Shadows, first!" Yu shouted out, and everyone re-focused on the fight. 

* * *

 

"... Seito?" was the first word out of his uncle's mouth the minute the fight was over, and Yu immediately realized Igor had programmed an alternate timeline into this Loop again. He let out an annoyed sigh. "Great... you know me under a different name, too? Sorry to say, but whatever version of 'me' you met, it's not actually been me. So, anyway, my name is Yu Narukami, and I'm the acting Leader of the Investigation Team. Considering the fact you guys seem quite hostile towards me, I'm gonna guess I wasn't exactly a good guy in your timeline." "You killed almost ten people, no, you weren't a good guy in the least." Saki narrowed a glare at the silverette, who flinched. Okay, so that was... a lot worse than he was expecting.

 

"... right. Okay, that wasn't me, it was not me, calm down..." He shook his head to clear it. In the background, Zen opened the chest. "Either way, we haven't actually found the culprit yet, but they've only taken two lives so far- the announcer Mayumi Yamano's, and, well, Konishi-san's." "Well, considering you killed both Chie and Yosuke, this really isn't that bad in comparison." Yukiko quipped, icely calm, and Yu's blood runs cold.

"That wasn't me, that's not me, I didn't do that, I wouldn't do that, never..." "Woah, woah, calm down!" Adachi exclaims, quickly pulling Yu into a hug. Startled, he freezes as he feels an old bond stir within him. Adachi lets out a surprised noise as well.

* * *

 

The Next Loop

* * *

 

Tohru freezes as he suddenly finds himself looking up at an antenna, Mayumi Yamano's body hanging on the metal grate. 

He quickly runs to the side to empty his stomach, Dojima's angered shout going ignored as he pukes.

...right, Yu-kun did explain that part later on as well. It's when their Social Link (the Jester) hit it's peak.  _Guess I got dragged into this mess, too._

 

**1.9**

The Magician was Looping. (Yu-senpai had mentioned something about a Jester, too, but he didn't have a Jester, so who really cares.) Akira raced through the hallway of the dungeon, a confused Ryuji following him. He'd already planned out an act to keep up until he could properly explain things to Morgana, and Ryuji was very confused when the curly-haired teenager had suddenly started calling him Skull.

"Joker! There you are! Do you know what happened?" _Oh thank god there he is._ "Mona, so you remember as well? Strang, then why doesn't Skull... No, no time for that. We have to get out of here first... Let's discuss things back in LeBlanc later." "What the hell is going on...?!" Ryuji was very, very confused. it was kind of hilarious, actually. Morgana just let a small chuckle and made to open the door, when he realised it was still locked. "Um, Joker, unlock the door, please?" "Oh, right."

* * *

 

Later, LeBlanc...

* * *

"Wait wait wait, what?! You're not serious, are you?" "Believe me, I am." "You've gotta be kidding..." The cat's ears flattened against his head.

 

**1.10**

Neku Sakuraba didn't particularly like the Infinite Loops. ...Sorry, Neku Hanamura. The headphones-wearing boy sighed as he fought against the rainstorm and slick streets of Inaba, wondering why his in-Loop self was so stupid as to try and hold an umbrella while riding a bike. He'd long since put the thing into his subspace pocket, but the yellow bike he was riding was an absolute piece of crap.

Finally, an inconvenient gust of wind blew strongly at him right as he was riding through a puddle, and he flailed helplessly, trying to get his path back under control, until finally, he crashed against a trashcan, flying off his bike and landing upside-down against a nearby wall with a thump. "Ow... ugh, damnit that hurt..." he groaned, allowing himself a moment to wallow in his misery when a silver-haired boy entered his field of vision. "Are... you okay?" With a grunt of pain, Neku pushed himself off the ground, haphazardly attempting to dust himself off. "Eh, kinda... I've been better. My name's Neku Hanamura, and you are?" The bowl-haired kid looks a bit surprised at him simply getting up after a fall like that, but shakes his head before bowing slightly. "Yu Narukami."  _Man, he's formal..._ Neku fiddled with his headphone cord, somewhat uncomfortable. Experimentally, he let out a ping- one return, though obviously not from the boy in front of him.  _Great, either he's not Awake or not a Looper in the first place..._

"Wait, we have no time to be talking- we're late!" Neku realised with a start. "Oh- I hadn't realised. Do you think we could take your bike?" Narukami asked. The spiky-haired brunette looked at the bent yellow-painted metal. "...yeah, no. Come on, we've gotta run!"

 

**1.11**

In hindsight, Akira really should've seen this Loop coming. 

On the plus side, the magic tricks would probably come in handy, and the whole was good experience- on the other side, trying to be stealthy in a stark white suit was proving to be rather difficult.

Seriously, how was KID never caught?

 

**1.12**

* * *

 

April 2014, Club Escapade VIP Room...

* * *

 

"Alright, so which Arcana do we send Looping next?" Minato opened the discussion. "I'd like Fortune, personally, seeing how Ryoji is only dreaming so far." "Though I'd like to see Justice- " "Nope!" "-Akira-kun isn't ready for it just yet. Naoto is a powerful ally, so I raise no objections." "The Wheel of Fortune... well, Chihaya is quite composed, so she should be able to handle it no problem." Akira contemplated before nodding as well. "Well, that's settled then! After that... why don't we try activating the Emperor?" Kotone threw in her own two cents. The male Wild Cards nodded, they had no objections to that plan.

"Well everyone, good luck." Yu nodded, and with that, the meeting was adjourned.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.1 These aren't in chronological order. This one's Yu's 'Welcome To The Multiverse' Speech, even though he's been active for a long time by then. (As a sidenote, Mochisato. Probably not the actual ship name.)  
> 1.2 Neutral Ending ho! As a side note, Frisk utterly failed at school.  
> 1.3 And the first Social Link to activate is... Lovers!  
> 1.4 The partnership. It was an option until it wasn't. Thanks, Atlus.  
> 1.5 Some brief RWBY. Or rather, JNPR.  
> 1.6 A River Of Snow. It's good. And on hiatus.  
> 1.7 He's wearing the school uniform with a trenchcoat instead of the normal jacket.  
> 1.8 Wanted It To Be A Game is FANTASTIC. Also, I had to edit this one a lot.  
> 1.9 Annnd~ the third Arcana is the Magician! (YuSuke confession probably next chapter.)  
> 1.10 Some TWEWY. Only Akira was Awake here- aside from Neku.  
> 1.11 It's a valid question, really.  
> 1.12 I call this meeting to order. ORDER, I SAY! (Naoto's reaction will be fantastic. Next chapter.)
> 
> ALSO QUICK NOTE:  
> I'll be on vacation for the next three weeks, so I'll only be able to upload if I actually get Wi-Fi somewhere. My bad.


	3. Chapter 2: Sanity optional

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yay, Wi-Fi! For five more days!
> 
> ... maybe two chapters incoming? Depends on my rapid mood swings due to summer heat.

**2.1**

Morgana... wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but it was some kind of Variant- that, or a fused Loop. The latter was looking more likely, if all the new faces were anything to go by. And the fact he was aiming to be a "Hunter". The human form(s) were definitely a bonus.

...the gender-swapping "Semblance" was a bit of an annoyance, though. Yes, yes, Morgana's a female name! Jeez. He hadn't gotten why he even used the damn thing before coming to Beacon until he'd further looked into his Loop memories. He was an internationally (inter-kingdom-ly?) wanted criminal. That would explain it.

At least seeing Ryuji as a monkey 'Faunus' had been worth a good chuckle. Skull was part of Team ARAY (pronounced Army) from Vacuo, with Joker, Lady Ann and Fox as the other members. Joker, as per the rule, was the Leader. There was a second-year Team at his school called AHorNS led by Akechi, and the poor man had been utterly decimated in the singles rounds against Fox.

All in all, the Loop had been productive (Two human forms! ...sorta.) if uneventful.

 

**2.2**

Aigis was confused. For being a robot, H4MU40 was very... lively. An advanced personality matrix, maybe? Of course, when the brunette had started mumbling about a "Minato" and "Sister Units", all the while seeming very amused, the blonde field leader had been a tad creeped out.

...of course, this was by far the least crazy part of her life, the more outlandish parts including a ghost boy (probably) showing up at the twenty-fifth hour of the day sometimes and teleporting around her room, not even bothering to pretend to be normal, instead giving her doom prophecies, and fighting sludge monsters (other types, too, but there were decidedly too many types of sentient puddles with claw-hands) in aforementioned 25th hour.

Her life, Aigis decided, sucked.

 

**2.3**

Naoto was... incredibly confused.Why was she home, in April 2011?!

She forced herself to maintain some semblance of calm, and dialed her senpai's number without thinking. Weirdly enough, he picked up immediately. "Hey Naoto, I take it time turned back?" came the silverette's ever nonchalant (almost always, except that day in december) voice through her flipphone's speaker, and Naoto abruptly paused before regaining momentum. "I- yes, actually. For you as well, Senpai?" "For a couple millenia by now, yeah. I'm pretty sure you're freaked out now, so me and the rest of the time traveling gang, or those I'll be able to round up anyway, will meet at the food court tomorrow. See you then!" He hung up.

Naoto, who had frozen, shook her head to clear it. Right, Senpai would definitely explain tomorrow.  _'Wait, did he say the others? Who else is involved with this?'_

* * *

 

When the bluenette arrived at the Food Court the following day, Yu immediately waved her over. Due to the short notice, only Akira, Ryoji and Minato had made it from the out-of-Inaba Loopers, and Lovers wasn't Awake this Loop, though he saw Naoto visibly tense when she spotted Adachi. Oh, right. "No worries,it took Yosuke and Rise a while to adjust to Tohru-san, too. Come sit,I'll introduce you to everyone." "...Kujikawa isn't present." The detective remarked stiffly before taking a seat. "Yeah, we'll get to that part." Yosuke explained for him. A smile spreads on Yu's face as he speaks this time. "Either way, you're already familiar with my boyfriend, Yosuke, but I'll have to introduce everyone else. You've technically met Tohru-san, but not the time-travelling version who is significantly less of a dick due to originally being from a different timeline where I was the murderer and had a different name. He's adjusted pretty well by now, though Loops whenever he's not Awake are... unpleasant for unAwake Yosukes. I'll explain the terminology soon, no worries. These two basically-husbands are Ryoji-senpai and Minato-senpai. The literal time-traveller over there who's usually a second-year- well, in 2016 anyway - is Akira-kun. Unfortunately, Hamuko-san, Junpei, Yukari-san, Morgana and Ann couldn't make it,mostly because they're briefing Chihaya-san and Hiraga-san.Well, Hamuko-san is trapped in her own timeline, but I'll get to that."

 

Yu enjoyed seeing Naoto visibly process the information until she finally nodded, still notably confused, but now curious rather than terrified. "Right, would you mind explaining the Time Travel, then?"  _'She's in detective prince mode. Heh.'_

"Alright, but this'll take a while."

 

**2.4**

Mini-me Loops were kind pf a chore. Especially since you never grew up, so your 'older version' just looks like your younger self with slightly more muscles and longer hair. Speaking of which, the guy looks a bit creeped out. "Hey there. So, what's your name?" "Um, Sakuya Shiomi..." Poor kid seems very distracted. You can't blame him.

"Well, I'm Makoto Yuuki, pleasure to meet you. Welcome to Iwatodai Dormitory, the next year will be literally hell." You keep your voice level before turning and retreating into your room.

 

 

Later, during the Q Event, you have to fight to keep your grin down at the shocked faces of the Investigation Team (mostly unAwake, then). Only a grown man with silver hair smirks at SEES's sudden arrival. You wink at him as Sakuya is busy looking between him and another second-year who looks almost identical, very confused.

 

**2.5**

Minato suddenly swore loudly, causing Junpei to look at him, startled. "I completely forgot to brief Kenji! Shit!" His Leader takes off, and the capped teen chuckles while shaking his head. "This guy..."

Later that Loop, a shell-shocked Kenji takes his usual seat next to him at Hagakure, ordering the special before staring at him with wide eyes. "Dude, you saved the world and didn't tell me?" "Hell yeah I did. Or I helped Leader-man, anyway."

 

**2.6**

"Are you humming Warrior from Ke$ha?" Joker asks, incredulous but smirking. Ann smiles back under her mask. "Hell yeah I am, the song's great. Fits me too, doesn't it?" "What're you guys talking about?" Ryuji walks over, looking curious. Ann, in response, pulls an mp3-player and headphones out of her pocket and plops the bright red clip-ons onto Ryuji's ear, playing a Japanese cover of the song she'd found.

 

"...okay, that's effing bad-ass." He nods in approval, and Ann chuckles.

 

**2.7**

Makoto Yuuki woke up and quickly assessed the situation.

1) Moonlight Bridge.

2) Dark Hour.

3) He was barely 12.

"Welp, that's different. So I decided to stay in Iwatodai? According to my memories, I've been experiencing the Dark Hour from the start, but it looks like the Kirijo's haven't found me in the orphanage yet... the same orphanage Akihiko and Shinjiro are staying at, and they haven't been discovered yet either. ...what was I even doing here so late?" He quietly monologued to himself.

 

...apparently, he had the urge to visit the bridge every Full Moon. "Well, XIII, you're being obvious this Loop." He lightly snarked before abruptly turning on his heel and beginning his jog back to the orphanage, entirely missing the tealhaired girl staring at him in wonder from behind a coffin.

 

**2.8**

Akira looked at his "twin", both of them yellow eyed and white haired, both in child prison warden costumes. While being children. "This is going to be a heck of a headache next Loop, huh, 'Ace'?" "You can say that again, Joker. Oh, look, Lavenza's waking up. Wonder what her Persona will be... still Arsene?" "Probably."

(Yaldabaoth was very confused.)

 

When Agehacho (or just Cho, really, please call her that) woke up, she was definitely not in LeBlancs attic. Instead, she appeared to be in a prison cell. ...great. There were two small boys with her hair colour, but not her deep blue eyes, in front of her cell, and a man with a manic grin and the longest nose she'd ever seen seated at a wooden desk a bit further beyond. The entire prison was shrouded in mist the colour of her eyes, giving everything a velvet blue tint to it.

Weirdly enough, Big Nose's eyes were narrowed in confusion at the two bantering boys. "...the hell kind of dream is this?" She finally drew attention to herself.

 

**2.9**

Junpei was bored, so he played Persona 3 Portable. This proved to not be a good idea, as a curious Akihiko leaned in to check why he of all people was playing a game entirely in English.

* * *

 

"Why the  _hell_ would you play a  _Persona game, in our lobby, without headphones?!_ " Minato, suffice to say, wasn't pleased that Hamuko's Magician just made the entirety of unAwake SEES undergo an existential crisis.

Hence why he was chasing said Magician through Thebel with his sword and Evoker drawn, taking pot-shots with Garu.

 

**2.10**

There were Loops where Anchors just wanted to be left alone.

On a related note, a man going by the name of "Domino Kaitou" had single-handedly exposed a number of evil-doers in Tokyo within the span of two weeks. Said man's friends (or those who were aware of it, at the very least), were rather worried.

When a false god rose and was promptly curbstomped seconds later, the concern grew enough for each of them to send an e-mail.

 

From: Hamuko-sempai

To: Joker

Jesus that was fast

Are u okay? I noticed u soloed everything :/

 

From: Minato-senpai

To: Joker

Hamuko keeps heckling me to send you my concerns as well. I told her you probably want to be left alone, but she insists.

As such: Are you alright?

... you don't need to answer.

 

From: Yu-senpai

To: Joker

Impressive, Akira. I had thought it would be longer until you could summon Satanael on your own. Gods know I took longer to get Izanagi-no-Okami down pat.

I have to voice my concerns, however. Are you quite alright? ...have you fallen in love with a non-Looper after all? -i understand the need for privacy, if that's the case.

 

From: Joker

To: Hamuko-sempai, Yu-senpai, Minato-senpai

I'm... okay. Mostly just a little weirded out. Needed some privacy to get used to the new revelation. 

On an unrelated note, mind if we call in another meeting soon?

-Ren Amamiya (yeah, this)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends this chapter.
> 
> 2.1 For those who didn't get, it's RWBY and Morgana's Blake.  
> 2.2 I had to shorten this one, but this os the Loop where Hamuko figurd out Ryoji's dreaming of some kind.  
> 2.3 Something made entirely pointless since he's technically Looping now. Half-Looping, anyway. Naoto took the whole thing worse in the original version, but that wouldn't really fit her, so I changed it to something that hopefully makes more sense.  
> 2.4 Yu's his mini-me's teacher. I have that written up somewhere, so I might post it in a later chapter.  
> 2.5 ...oh yeah, Kenji!  
> 2.6 Listen to the refrain and tell me this song isn't perfect for the PT, I dare you. (Someone make a AnnKira AMV with this song. I don't ship it, but this song fits.)  
> 2.7 This one was very different originally, but it also featured Mitsuru's dad and I realised I suck at writing Takeharu Kirijo. (Also, a brief confuzzled Fuuka in the background.)  
> 2.8 Attendants! Also, Lavenza's name translates to swallowtail, a type of butterfly, while simply Cho means simply butterfly. Ta-da, I suck at naming things.  
> 2.9 Junpei, while by now being school-smart, is kind of an idiot.  
> 2.10 And to end things off, Kicchan's reaction to his new name. He is by far the most affected by this.
> 
>  
> 
> ALSO ATLUS FINALLY RELEASED PQ2 NEWS THANK FUCK. FILM REEL GIRL LOOKS ADORABLE AS HELL AND ALSO JURASSIC PERSONA USERS AND HAMUTAN AND AHHHHHHH THIS GAME IS GOING TO BE FANTASTIC!  
> ...now to wait for the European release date. Shit.


	4. In Which The Multiverse Invades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ohcrap this is late
> 
> ...and also not the pre-prepared stuff but completely new things. Oh Lordy(TM)

**3.1**

When Ren Amamiya Woke Up in an empty train station, wearing only a hoodie. trainers and shorts, he had a bad feeling.

 

With good reason, seeing how the world ended barely half an hour later and he got a demonic parasite installed by Lucifer.

...he hoped those tattoos would be gone the next Loop, because boy that would be awkward to explain.

 

 

**3.2**

Morgana knew it wasn't going to be a good Loop when he woke up as a teenager with a bird head.

Throw in the moody dark shadow, kids with super powers everywhere and not a single familiar face in sight, and he knew he'd ended up god-knows-where again. "Fantastic..." "You okay, Tokoyami?"

 

Oh yeah, and then there was Midoriya. Literally the only good thing to come out of this. "I told you before- call me Morgana." "Uh... sure."

 

(Izuku wondered where the visiting Looper had come from.)

 

**3.3**

"Oh my... this is quite curious." Haru Okumura mused as she looked at the date. "2009, is it? Strange."

In a flash of bright red, a silver haired teen of about 15 years appeared in her room. Squashing the impulse to call for help, the heiress instead regarded the intruder with an intrigued look. "Oh my." THe silverette snorted at her reaction. "Man, 'Kira wasn't kidding whe he said you were good at keeping your composure. Sorry for intruding- my name is Yu Narukami, of the Fool Arcana. You're Akira's Empress, Haru, right?"

 

Ah, the young man knew Akira. "Hm... I suppose I can trust you. I take it you've come to explain?" "Since I've become the resident time traveler, briefing the new Loopers is my job, yeah. Sit down, this ones gonna be a doozy and gods know Mitsuru didn't take it nearly as well..." Following the nice high schooler's advice, Haru took a seat.

 

**3.4**

"Hm. I suppose I should have seen this coming, now that I am an 'official' Looper. Though I fear this will be pitifully easy..." Margaret sighed as she took in the sight of the train moving slowly along the tracks towards Inaba. "Well, maybe it shall prove amusing. Certainly better than spending the entire Loop in the Velvet Room."

 

* * *

Margaret was weird. There really was no nice way to say it, their Leader was a huge weirdo. And scary strong. Yosuke shivered as he remembered the silver-haired third year striking down that bloodied, revolver-toting... Shadow. (The Reaper, Rise called it later. If that monster was the reaper, then Margaret was the executioner.)

**3.5**

Waking up as a tiny young girl on an island in the middle of nowhere was not one of Rise's priorities. "...where the heckity am I?" Finding fun ways to swear had become one of her favorite pastimes. The brunette boy who'd woken her up blinked in surprise before a deadpan look settled on his face. "Oh great, you're not Kairi. Well, Axel's gonna be pissed... Lea? Whatever. Can you stand? I'm Sora, by the way." He helped her up, and Rise staggered for a moment before catching herself. "Uh- yeah, thanks. I'm Rise Kujikawa, from Persona 4. I'm guessing you're the Anchor of... wherever this is?" "Got it in one. Welcome to Kingdom Hearts. You arrived early. Like, super early, I mean wow."

Rise blinked for a few seconds. "Wait- Kingdom Hearts? You mean that weird back-up merge from Disney and some of Square Enix' properties that got assigned a specifally tailored Anchor cluster to keep it from destroying Yggdrasil further?" Sora's shoulders sagged in exhaustion. "Eeyup. Me, Ventus and Riku have our hands pretty full..."

"Yikes. Well, my branch has like four Anchors, too, so we kinda get how you feel. Plus, our admin's... well, he likes to programm alternate timelines. A lot. It can get kinda exhausting when you realise you're stuck in the wrong one..."

 

* * *

 

"Hey, Senpai, look what I got!"  _Slash!_ "Woah! Is... that a keyblade? You visited the Kingdom Hearts clusterfuck?" Yu looked at the pink and white blade (it looked largely like Kingdom Key, except instead of a crown at the end, it was five thin blades with small pink notes between them. The keychain was shaped like Rise's headphones from the dancing incident.) with admiration. "Not bad."

 

**3.6**

"Oh, jeez, this is a mess..." A unfamiliar student sighs as she bends down to pick up the notebooks she spilled out of her bag. Akira regards her with interest- she looks like she could be Ryuji and Ann's child, if the latter wasn't so very lesbian, she'd have proposed to Shiho if it weren't for the latters inability to Loop. (He'd have to ask Igor if he could get the volleyball player dreaming, at least.) She had Ann's blonde hair in a shoulder length (definitely purposely ruffled) bob, and wore a red graphic T-shirt instead of the school-issued turtleneck. "Embarassing.. ugh, I haven't been this clumsy fo centuries."

Akira snapped to attention immediately. The unknown girl snorted and turned around-

They weren't in Shujin Academy anymore. "W-what the hell?!" Akira took a startled step back, drawing his dagger from his Pocket. "Pfft- oh calm down, we're only in my Pocket. Sorry, this- wow, this was the worst possible way to approach you. I suck at this." The Looper groaned as she buried her face in her hands.

Akira stowed his dagger away, deciding to trust the girl for now. "Sorry, again. Um, my name is Cecilia- you can call me CC for short. I'm a Travelling Looper- me and my friend Roix are visiting here for three or so Loops, and the genius decided to let me handle introductions." CC sounded sincere enough... "Alright. I'm assuming you know who I am, then?" "Mm-hm. Akira Kurusu, isn't it?" The blonde tilted her head to the side. He nodded. "Alright~ I remembered the right name! Now, I better get us back to Shujin."

("Roix" turned out to be a girl with curly dark brown hair, wearing a small golden crown at all times. She was a bit bossy, but in an exasperated older sister way. CC just continued to prove she was a total social mess.)

 

**3.7**

They were dancing.  _Why_ were all of dancing? Was- wasn't this the place where the final battle took place?  _What the hell???_

* * *

 

The next Loop...

"I see your dancing games were released." Yu grinned as he took in his Co-Anchors' new oufits. They groaned, still a bit overloaded with confusion. (Kotone, meanwhile, was pouting in the background. She wanted to dance, too!)

 

**3.8**

"Where in the absolute hell am I?" was Minato Arisato's first conscious thought, immediately followed by "Wait, wasn't I dead?"

Looking around, he appeared to be in some sort of small house. All that decorated the small room were a bed, a closet and a bookcase on one wall, a desk with a PC and a chair with a television with some kind of console in front of it and a picture frame on the wall. "I'm repeating myself, but where the hell am I?" "Kouki! Come downstairs, or you'll be late!"

 

... who the hell was Kouki? Finally, after two more minutes, an exasparated woman with blue hair not unlike his own came up the stairs into his room. "Seriously, Kouki, you're supposed to meet up with Jun today! The boy even came over to remind me not too long ago. Out with you, hush!"

And before Minato- or Kouki, apparently, now, could say anything, the woman had dragged him down the stairs, out of the house and in front of another one. "Now go on, son." Wait wait wait, what?!

The door suddenly opened and a boy with wild blond hair dragged him inside with a "Thanks, Ms. D!" before he was dragged up another flight of stairs. "So, you're not Kouki, are you?" The boy's green eyes narrowed in suspicion. "U-uh, no? My name is Minato. I... have no idea how I got here or what's going on..." At that, Jun (that was probably who he was) groaned and flopped backwards on his bed. "Of friggin course, you're a new Looper- couldn't have been something exciting for once? Augh, whatever. Listen up, newbie! I'mma explain."

 

**3.9**

Adachi groaned lowly as he sat up- where the hell had he ended up this time? Looking around revealed... absolutely nothing. He was in a generic library, his pre-Awake self having apparently falling asleep in one of the chairs used for reading. Speaking of which, looking into his Loop memories revealed him to be a high school detective that had started to gain fame recently. 

Tohru Kudo groaned lowly as he realised where he'd landed. "Great..."

 

**3.10**

Akira blinked Awake sluggishly-  _bang!_

* * *

 

"So, what exactly happened last Loop?" Yu asked his cousin for the Loop. Ren groaned. "Awoke at the bad ending. Got shot."

..."Yikes."

 

**3.11**

Souji Seta blinked as he found himself in a familiar train. "...huh?"

There was someone else sitting across from him, staring at him intently. "Do you... know who I am?" The blue haired boy asks, looking lost. "N-no, sorry..." Souji answers hesitantly.

He was back in 2011, and apparently he had an amnesiac companion as well. (Later, he remembered his name was Minato and that he'd died two years ago. Except he hadn't, apparently.)

 

Millenia later, Yu Narukami blinked in surprise as he remembered his first Loop. "Huh? Something wrong, Yu?" Makoto asked, as the silverette chuckled. "Oh, I remembered my first Loop, that's all. You were there, believe it or not- well, an unAwake amnesiac you, anyway. I was still going by Souji then- and very confused. It's kind of funny, actually."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3.1 Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne. Boy howdy this game is Angsty with a capital Sad  
> 3.2 Or, Boku no Kaitou Academia. (Literally everyone who meets Izuku likes him. This is because he's himself and Looped in as a child of Aphrodite in Percy Jackson once.)  
> 3.3 Originally, Chariot was going to Loop next. I still have it lying around, too, but it kinda fell to the wayside. So, Empress.  
> 3.4 Which means Margaret is Looping. Everyone in the IT is low- to high-key terrified. (WIth good reason tbh)  
> 3.5 Beefing Up Rise. Because everyone kinda needs to know how to do The Fightin'. (On an unrelated sidenote, I have entered Kingdom Hearts Hell (TM) and it's one of the reasons why I didn't update for so long. Oops. And Kingdom Hearts in these specific Loops is an Admin's worst nightmare and coiincedentally the reason Yen Sid is so damn grumpy.)  
> 3.6 OhgodIforgottointroducetheTravellingLoopers- Uh, yeah, this is why there's an OC tag. There's more of these kids, too, eight in total.  
> 3.7 These really aren't in chronological order. Have a smug Yu. (SHARE MY PAIN HAH)  
> 3.8 Minato's first out-of-Loop experience. I reiterate my previous point.  
> 3.9 You didn't honestly think I'd leave it at the Magic Kaito mention, did you?  
> 3.10 Oops. My unAwake self made stupid choices again-*shot*  
> 3.11 Annnd Yu's first Loop! Because whynot.


	5. I can't think of a title

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Um. Oops.
> 
> rIGHT LET'S DO THIS.

**4.1**

Junpei wasn't sure he liked ths whole Looping thing. The hate came and went, really.

... right now, it was blazing. "Why did they stick me into this thing?!" He let out a frustrated shout as he ascended further, clutching the white pillow he holding tighter.

 

**4.2**

"Really, I should've seen this coming. Alright." Yu took a deep breath, earning him a confused look from the new transfer. (Hello, mini-me.) He entered the classroom.

 

"Hello class, I'm Yu Narukami and I'll be your philosophy and homeroom teacher this year. Now, I'm sure you're all glad you won't have to deal with Mr. Morooka, but I  _will_ pay attention to who doesn't do the same thing. Now then, we have a transfer student this year. Come on in, Seta-kun."

The class broke into confused whispers as Narukami-sensei entered again. All, except one boy with light brown hair, who was struggling to contain his laughter at the dumbstruck face of the girl sitting in front of him. He failed, but tried to keep his chuckles as quiet as possible. Yu noticed anyway, and grinned.

 

* * *

 

The Investigation Team sans Yosuke stared at their homeroom teacher in unabashed confusion. "Two... senseis?" "Couldn't stay away, huh partner?" Yosuke grinned.  _Oh, now the confused looks are darting between us like confused dogs._ Yu walked up to his boyfriend and ruffled his hair, ignoring the brunette's surprised yelp. "Sorry, didn't want all of you to suffer through this alone." He gestured at the yellow fog surrrounding the stage. The older silverette turned to his (not quite but close) team and took a small bow, a grin playing on his lips. "Hello. I'm Souji's way-future-self. Sorry for keeping quiet for this long, I don't know what went wong but apparently Yosuke's future soul fused with his past self and I was trying to figure out where my boyfriend went." (Well, no, that was a lie. He was just looking for a good day to appear out of nowhere.)

"Why is this happening today... why just wanted to train...!" Chie, a bit overdramatic this Loop, dropped to her knees in faux despair.

 

 

**4.3**

Minato Awoke lying in the middle of Shibuya Crossing, wearing his newly acquired dancing gear. Any attempts at asking nearby passersby anything resulted in failure.

And then the frogs attacked. Minato took one look at the graffiti-looking enemies and promptly summoned one of his swords from his Pocket. "Nope."

Several minutes of slaughter later, the damn things still wouldn't stop coming and he was slowly but surely running out of stamina when a red-haired girl ran in his direction from Hachiko's statue. "Neku, what's taking so- you're not Neku... anyway, uh, make a pact with me!" Minato stared at her as he parried another frog. "Come on, it'll make them leave you alone!"

Well then. "I accept." Lights erupted around them, and Minato instinctively shielded his eyes with his arms. A feeling not unlike a rank up of a Social Link permeated his entire being, and he let out a whistle. "Woah. That's a pretty huge power-up for just one rank." "...rank? Uh, nevermind. I'm Shiki Misaki, and you are?" "Minato Arisato."

 

"...OH! Oh, you're from that branch! Uh, Neo Persona?" "We're that famous? Anyway, yeah. Where'd I land, exactly?" "The World Ends With You, or just Shibuya-Sekai. This Loop only lasts about a month, though. I heard you guys run for several years? That's gotta suck."

 

**4.4**

Chatroom: Time Is Looping, Fools!

 

ughhh (_　_|||)

Milked: ?

Just... school ._.

Door-kun: ah right

Door-kun: I just sleep through evrything ¯\\_₍ッ₎_/¯

IdolVoice: All of u are terrible

i wish i could sleep in class

but i'd get so many chalks to the face ಥ-ಥ

IdolVoice: u lazy butts (╬ Ò ‸ Ó)

this is about the most appropriate time for this

Milked: ?

I'm demi it turns out

IdolVoice: i friggiN KNEW IT ☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

Door-kun: It's Goro isn't it

it's goro

Milked: well crap

moving on from this uncomfortable topic

should we get emperor looping?

IdolVoice: i will actually pay you to tape hidetoshi's reaction

Door-kun: pay me in fast food and you have a deal

 

**4.5**

Oliver opened his eyes to find a prison cell. In a medieval castle. "Well, this isn't where I usually start... and it doesn't look like Ding Dong Dell, either."

Curiously enough, he was already in his Ni No Kuni outfit, barring the addition of the great staff version of Astra and a strange weight on his face- which turned out to be a mask shaped like a pair of golden wings with three coloured dots in the corners of the eyes. "Huh. Wonder where I am..."

"The hell? You're not Mona." came a voice from behind him. Oliver turned to find two teens behind him, one in what he assumed to be a high school uniform with plaid pants of all things, the other in some sort of leather costume. Following a strange instinct, he put the mask he'd been scrutinizing back on. "Um, who are you? And, do you know where we are? This isn' exactly where I usually wake up."

"Oh! You're a visiting Looper. Or Anchor, if Joker's not Awake..." The blonde scratched his neck awkwardly when his curly-haired companion shot him a weird look. "Anyway, 'til we get outta here, my name's Skull. You have a codename in mind, kid?" Codename? Oliver looked at his staff, before nodding decisively. "Astra." "Alrigh', follow me then. Oh- right, the cell's locked. Uh, hold on..." Oliver quickly cast Spring Lock, to 'Skull''s surprise. "No need, Mr. Skull! Lead the way!" Skull blinked twice before shrugging. "Eh, magic kid. Why not. After me!"

 

* * *

 

Ryuji looked the strange magic kid over again. Ever since they'd left the palace, the small auburn-haired kid had been wearing a yellow button-up shirt, blue dungarees and red sneakers. "So your name's Oliver?" "Mh-hm! I'm from Ni No Kuni. I didn't realise before now, but this is the Neo Persona branch, right?" "Yeah. Oh, uh, did I introduce myself? I'm Ryuji Sakamoto. Chariot." "Nice to meet you! Uh, shoudl I wake Mr. Ren up now?" Ryuji blinked before looking at Ren, who had just resigned himself to quietly eating his ramen in utter confusion. "Y'know what? After the second palace." "Sure thing, Mr. Ryuji!" "An' stop calling me that!"

 

**4.6**

Chatroom: Twists and turns and Tarot

 

Oh my. It appears Ryuji and the other Chariots joined us?

Spoon: thanks for informing me chihaya be back in less than a second

YarHar, MeatDimension and 2 others have joined the chat.

YarHar: ok nvm the fact i'm freakin out beyond belief

RedPanther: didn't know u knew such fancy words ryuji :o

YarHar: SHUT

YarHar: exactly how many branches are there

IAmADoor: who tf knows i've been to like 1000 and i'm pretty sure i still haven't been to that cuphead guys branch

MeatDimension: do i want to know who cuphead is

IdolVoice(doored): no u don't

IdolVoice(doored): that was the weirdest fused loop ever

Detective: It still baffles me as to how this chat group exists.

Spoon: troll tech and let's leave it at that

RenMamaMia: still can't believe we accidentally sent chariot looping while aiming for emperor

Riodejaneiro: can't believe i can do three sports and am equally terrible to my club mates in all of them

Riodejaneiro: also time loops gods help us all

IAmADoor: don't actually

 

**4.7**

Naoto Awoke inside of a locker, presumably in a classroom, with some very strange Loop memories with the name "Naoto Saihara, Ultimate Detective" atached to them. She then proceeded to fall out of the abruptly opened locker to the feet of a very startled blonde girl.  _Well, this appears to be a very interestin Loop._

* * *

 

"It seems my initial assessment was correct. This place is very interesting. By no means enjoyable, but interesting nonetheless." Naoto mused idly as she searched the library turned crimescene with her current partner, one Kaede Akamatsu.

 

**4.8**

Kazushi idly stretched his legs, trying in vain to get his nerves under control. It wasn't every day you got an opportunity quite like this, after all.

His monkey idly flexed behind him.

Nope, this was certainly a new experience for him.

 

**4.9**

Ken Amamiya blinked Awake, and promptly noticed two things- one, he had a different first name, two, he had brown hair.

He was also making the silver-haired senior in front of him rather uncomfortable. Behind said senior, three high school students looked fairly amused. One of them was Hamuko-sempai.  _Ah, so that's where I am. Figured I'd end up in his shoes after my little name change._ With a small, innocent smile, he backed up from Akihiko Sanada and idly pickpocketed Ikutsuki.

 

**4.10**

Kanji Awoke for the first time. He immediately barrelled into a lampost as he abruptly lost focus, or rather his focus went from "What the hell did those two just say about me?!" to "Wait what just hap- OW".

Yosuke and Chie's rapid footsteps slowed down at the loud clang of Kanj's unwilling collision. The two of them looked at each other, then back at Kanji, who was rubbing his head, confused. "Th' hell jus' happened...?" "Yo, Kanji! You okay?" "Yosuke, you idiot, he doesn't know us yet-!" "Uh, what're you talkin' about, Chie-sempai? 'Course I know you. Don't know why I'm suddenly sixteen again, though..." His two senpai looked at each other, before helping him up. "Boy, am I not looking forward to this explanation... Yu's in Tokyo this time, too... ugh, what a pain in the ass." Kanji continued to stare, utterly confused. "RIght, right, follow me to Junes, you two. Chie, you didn't get a detailed explanation yet either, right?" "Nope." "Ugh... great."

 

**4.11**

Ren was in Ratatouille. "Somehow, I'm not surprised..." He ran a hand through his shaggy black fur. "Thank the twigs and branches for Yu-senpai's cooking lessons."

 

**4.12**

"Ow- friggin'... my head." Ryuji grimaced as he gingerly rubbed his scalp, before staring at his hands in utter confusion.

He looked around. Black void, blue stone, weird cotton bushes. Looked at his body. Still a purple dinosaur thing in an edgy get-up. "What."

* * *

 

Yusuke took in his aqua skin and armor, attempting futily to brush too long black bangs out of his eyes. "Well then. This should prove quite interesting."

 

And prove interesting it did.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4.1 Catherine, if it wasn't clear enough.  
> 4.2 Remember that mini-me Loop two chapters ago?  
> 4.3 TWEWY. i like the game, and it'll probably be featured more than once.  
> 4.4 ohyeah the chat loops these are a thing  
> 4.5 Ni No Kuni. if the canon Loops can stick RWBY and Yo-Kai Watch together, I can do this, thank you very much.  
> 4.6 ohright Chariot is Looping now!!! Yay!  
> 4.7 Danganronpa! The other Ultimates didn't really trust Nao, I'll be honest. She has a very... Kirigiri aura and detective mode especially.  
> 4.8 I Do Not Know Dragon Ball yyep  
> 4.9 Names. Yggdrasil is incredibly bad at them.  
> 4.10 And here we have Emperor! Confused bleach blonde boys are gr8  
> 4.11 Rats. ... and now I have an evil idea for Goro's first fused Loop.   
> 4.12 Deltarune feat. the first steps to a rarepair none of my readers probably ships but hey it's my story.
> 
> ...I'm super sorry on how late this is but 1) Kingdom Hearts hell, 2) I somehow got dragged ass backwards into Cuphead and BATIM and 3) Deltarune. God Help Me.  
> Also school. And sickness. And my gramps' funeral.


	6. This Isn't Dead Btw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah oops.

**5.1**

Hamuko blinked, decently confused. Where was she? ...why was she  _blonde_?

Some kind of foggy... somewhere. Last she remembered, she'd fallen asleep on the roof of Gekkougan... "Well, nothing to do but start walking, I guess." The girl shrugged.

 

After some time of walking, she arrived in a TV studio... or set. It was hard to tell, really. "... the heck?"

 

**5.2**

Teddie...  _tried_ to leave to see his friends outside the TV. Instead, he'd ended up in some blonde girl's room. Said blonde was kinda freaking out, to say the least. "You're not even Looping, what the heck am I going to  _do_ -"

She finally ran a hand through her hair in a vain effort to calm down. Taking a deep breath, she turned towards the exceedingly confused bear. "...okay. Alright- let's... let's just introduce ourselves. My name is Anne." "I'm Teddie!" "... yep. Great. Do you have a human body under that costume... and more importantly, does it wear clothes?" "Yes and no!" Teddie chirped, chipper as ever. The blonde let out a deep sigh. "Bloody  _fantastic_. Let's see if I have something your size..." Anne mumbled as she began to rifle through her closet.

 

**5.3**

[Club Escapade, 2014...]

"I think Hierophant may be Looping." Blinks. "What makes you say that, Arisato-senpai?" "Bunkichi and Mizuko  _have_ been acting kinda weird..." Hamuko confirmed. "Huh, I guess Sojiro  _has_ been more trusting..." "Uncle was home earlier than usual, now that you mention it..." Souji realized. "Well, I suppose briefing them's next on the bucket list, then. After that... are we good to go on Justice?"

Akira swallows at Minato's tentative question. "... alright. Let's bring my murderer-crush into the loop." Hamuko snorts at the horrible pun.

 

**5.4**

"I have to say this is rather bizarre..." Yusuke murmured as he captured the twisted landscape of Mementos. "What? The time loops or the fact you still get inspired by this place?" Ryuji remarked as he wacked another Shadow over the head. "Both, I suppose. More the former than the latter." "Gotcha, dude. Watch your canvas!" The bleach-blonde warned his teammate as an enemy set off a Maragi.

 

**5.5**

Yu Awoke on the top of a large tower made entirely of ice, where he was about to plunge an icicle into... his own chest, to the panicked cries of a boy flying up to meet him on what rather looked like a sword.

"Well, this is different." "Narukami, wait- oh. You actually stopped...?" "Yes, I Woke up, so to speak." The blueish-black haired boy slumped in relief. "Oh, thank the twigs, you're a Looper. Right! Um, I'm Wataru Mitani, the Anchor of Brave Story. You're replacing my friend Mitsuru Ashikawa- why are you laughing?" Yu, faintly embarrassed, halted his chuckles. "Apologies, it's just- there's a Mitsuru in my home loop, and she mostly uses ice magic. This situation is rather ironic in that aspect." "Huh, how about that... anyway, Mitsuru usually dies here because he can't stand what his other self says." "His other self? What, like his Shadow?" "If you want to call it that, then yeah? It's basically our bad half. Mitsuru does a  _lot_ of bad things to get his sister Aya back..."

Yu winced as he connected the parallels. "Yeah, I can see why I would replace Ashikawa-kun. I'd do a lot of things for Nanako, too... Congratulations on accepting your Shadow, by the by." "My Shadow? You said something similar before, too." "Your other self, as you call them. Over in my loop, it means you get this." And without much preamble, Yu summoned Izanagi.

Wataru's eyes light up. "Woah..."

 

**5.6**

Akira stared at the white envelope sitting innocently on his bed. Morgana, much like himself, was eyeing the thing with a lot of suspicion.

 

Hesitantly, he turned it over.

 

Smash Bros.

_What_?!

"Morgana, am I dreaming?" "...I don't think so. I think you just got an invitation."

 

... he was a Smash Bros. DLC character.

"... I'm just going to go... scream now." "Let me join you."

 

Time is Looping, Fools

invitation.png

Guys???

Milked: Is that-?!

help i'm dlc

Milked: ...and here I thought that BlazBlue Cross was a big deal.

Door-kun: congratulations!

thanks I have anxiety

IdolVoice: You'll be fine!!! :D

Let's hope

 

**5.7**

 

Akechi started as he suddenly existed again.

He'd just caused the train conductor to go berserk. No, he had just  _died_ , shot by his own double ( _puppet, nothing but a puppet in his eyes_ ) in his fa- in Shido's Palace. "Wh- what the hell ... ?!"

_"- sure he's this way?"_ camea ( _familiar_ ) voice from roughly behind him. But that impossible, if he was right about the date the Phantom Thieves hadn't even formed yet-  _who's to say they weren't lying on how they'd been active, though? They never trusted him, after all-_ no, they'd definitely hadn't met at this point.

"No mistaking that energy, Ren. Besides, we _know_ he's here today!" Morgana and Joker.

_How would they know?_

... the topic of the conversation had switched to Tarot, for some reason. Something about the Justice Arcana and a boy named Ken...?

" _What is happening?_ " he crouches, hissing out his frustration between his white ( _oh but they were black and blue usually, weren't they? Little Liar Prince_ ) fabric pants.

"Oh, there he is." Akechi stumbled back onto his feet abruptly at the not-cat's voice, falling into a haphazard combat stance. "Can't say I expected a warm welcome, but... is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

Akechi is very abruptly out of his depth. Morgana slams his paws onto his giant head. " _Really,_ Joker?" "Hey, who else can I use that on?" "...fair point, but is now really the time? He looks like he's about to have an aneurysm." Joker turns to Akechi and joins Morgana in facepalming.

"...right, I should probably explain the time travel. Buckle up, Princey." Akechi sits down, resigned in his bafflement. "... I'll save the breakdown for later, I suppose."

 

* * *

 

"And that's about it... any questions?" Akechi, by now, has buried his face in his knees again. " _Why me_?" "Yeah, that one's normal. i'll, ah, leave you to cope or something. Um... see ya." Joker fiddles with his hair awkwardly- how out of character for him - before taking out his phone and vanishing from Mementos.

 

...yes, coping time sounds wonderful right about now.

 

* * *

 

"I'm surprised you kept your composure that long, Ren." Ann quips, having replaced Futaba for the Loop as navigator and shamelessly abusing the privileges for eavesdropping, apparently. Ren, for his part, flops down bonelessly on his attics couch. "I am too, believe me..."  _He looked adorable all confused like that, too... Yggdrasil help me._

 

**5.8**

" _I have to say, I had not expected this predicament. I am thou, thou art I indeed. How did I not see this coming, again...?"_ Yu's voice echoed slightly. This was mostly the case because he was currently Izanagi, rendering "Souji Seta" unAwake and very, very confused.

...what was his Persona going on about?

**5.9**

Minato had been Looping for... a rather long time, actually. The first he'd ended up in Inaba had been almost as eventful as the Loop he'd finally figured out Ryoji was Looping- by the way of the black-haired boy confessing to him. That had been... very interesting.

Waking up to find a rather enthusiastic brunette with red eyes pulling him through the Dark Hour was therefore not the most unusual thing to happen, but the fact that he had a twin sister this Loop would prove to be interesting.

From the looks of things, his female counterpart from the Portable version of his game wasn't Looping, at least. "Hamuko, slow down..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5.1 Hamuko's first Loop! It's a Variant where she replaces Saki, and nobody really thinks anything's up until Minato shows up and tells them that yes, there is a female version of him that can loop and apparently started doing that.  
> 5.2 No, Teddie isn't Looping just yet. On another note: Midgard Loops! complete with Frequent Host  
> 5.3 There's a scrapped Awakening Loop for the Hierophants, which is mostly Sojiro and Ryotaro staring at their dead female friends and going _what_  
>  5.4 Ryusuke! Baby steps! This is gonna take for _ever_  
>  5.5 Brave Story is a neat movie and the parallels were a bit too easily drawn not to use  
> 5.6 Because, Smash. I freaked, Joker freaks, this is kind of a Big Deal.  
> 5.7 Akechi Angsting. This is probably gonna be kind of a Thing, because one does not return from the dead to find that the dude you kinda killed has a crush on you without Extra Issues.  
> 5.8 This kind of Loop actually happens _a lot_  
>  5.9 Their first meeting! Well, Hamuko's not Awake, but yeah.
> 
> ... I'm running out of handily available Loops. I may have to go find the rest of them...


End file.
